Airplane Crash

Arkansas Airplane Accident Attorneys

PROUDLY SERVING ALL OF ARKANSAS with offices in little rock, Mountain Home, & Texarkana

Our firm offers experienced aviation accident attorneys who are knowledgeable in the ways that airplane crash claims are successfully handled in Arkansas. One of our attorneys has extensive statewide experience representing one of the largest aviation insurance companies and its insureds. That experience also includes representation of several aviation clients, such as individual pilots, aviation mechanics and aviation repair facilities and fixed-based operators (FBOs).

Other aviation claims our attorneys have successfully handled in Arkansas include: permanent disfiguring injuries, wrongful death and permanent impairment, chemical overspray (from agricultural applications), and business aviation claims.

We offer our clients in Arkansas the benefit of this experience when representing those injured or killed in an aviation accident, including knowledge of general tort law, as well as an understanding of how any applicable FAA regulations might mandate standards of safe conduct.

Airplane Crashes: Human Error Tops the List

Flying is usually very safe and reliable. Indeed, statistically, we are living in the safest time for air travelers since the age of powered flight began over a century ago. Perhaps this is because few human activities are as regulated as air travel.

We can all rest assured that we are given benefit of considered and supervised safety measures when flying. Unfortunately, even under the most rigorous standards, human error must be considered. One moment of carelessness can have devastating permanent consequences. Carefully gathered statistics identify that human factors are the most common cause of fatal commercial air accidents during every decade where such statistics are measured.

Not everything can be expected to be under the control of the pilot. However, just like when driving a car, airplane pilots must follow established “rules of the road” when flying. Those rules help other pilots anticipate airplane travel in particular, predictable circumstances and, when followed, ensure the safety of everyone involved.

The Role of the NTSB in Airplane Crashes

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent agency of the United States Government. This agency immediately initiates an investigation every time there is an airplane crash in the United States. NTSB will promptly dispatch a trained team to investigate. Although the NTSB investigation can benefit everyone working to understand whether any compromise of common safety measures lead to the crash, such information is ordinarily inadmissible in court. The main purpose of the investigation is to identify those safety problems that caused the crash so that the problems can be avoided in the future. Our attorneys offer experience in litigating airplane crashes and know how to evaluate the NTSB findings to identify evidence in support of claims.

The Role Of Insurance

When a crash or negligent injury occurs, the law in Arkansas provides that those that caused the harm must restore innocently injured people to their harms and losses.

Those injured or suffering harm in an airplane crash look to receive the benefits of insurance covering passengers in the aircraft. The coverage provides protection when passengers are injured or killed riding in an airplane.


If you or a loved one needs our experience in handling airplane injury claims, give us a call at (501) 392-5007 and one of our experienced attorneys will personally be in touch with you.


Our Achievements

  • The National Trial Lawyers - Top 100 Lawyers

    The National Trial Lawyers - Top 100 Trial Lawyers: Brian Ray 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021

  • Martindale Hubbell

    Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent: Brian Ray 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

  • Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyers

    The National Trial Lawyers – Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyers: Brian Ray 2021

  • Little Rock Soiree – Best Lawyers 2013

    Little Rock Soiree – Best Lawyers: Brian Ray 2013

  • Avvo – Clients' Choice Award 2012, 2017 and 2019

    Avvo – Clients' Choice Award: Brian Ray 2012, 2017 and 2019 10.0 Superb Top Rated Personal Injury 10.0 Superb Top Attorney Criminal Defense

  • AY Magazine’s Arkansas Best Lawyers

    AY Magazine’s Arkansas Best Lawyers: Brian Ray 2020, 2021

  • National Association of Distinguished Counsel Top One Percent

    National Association of Distinguished Counsel Top One Percent: Brian Ray 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

  • American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys – 10 Best Client Satisfaction

    American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys – 10 Best Client Satisfaction: Brian Ray 2014, 2015, 2016

  • Nation’s Premier Top Ten Attorney – Personal Injury – 2016

    Nation’s Premier Top Ten Attorney – Personal Injury: Brian Ray 2016

  • Avvo Reviews

    Avvo 5 Star Rating: Brian Ray

  • Avvo Clients Choice Award

    Avvo Clients Choice Award - Brian Ray 2019

  • Avvo Top Attorney

    Avvo Rating - Top Attorney: Brian Ray

    Frequently Asked Questions

    • What documents or records should I be getting together for my case?

      Any relevant information you have regarding the accident should be gathered. This includes, but is not limited to, photographs, videos, written notes you made regarding the accident (i.e. your present sense impression, any witness names), a copy of the police report, your insurance information, any reports reflecting the estimated damage done to your vehicle (i.e. cost of repair), any medical bills that stemmed from the accident. If you have any questions about what information may be relevant to your potential claim, give us a call and CCR will be happy to help you make that determination.

    • Can I get any bills paid without filing a lawsuit?

      There is a surprisingly simple way to get payment for all your damages without filing suit. By keeping records and documentation about the accident up to date and in order, you can make a copy available to the insurance company, if they are agreeable to a reasonable settlement.

      In many cases, unfortunately, the insurance company is less enthusiastic about fulfilling their obligations. We have seen instances of insurance companies prolonging legal negotiations in the hopes that the injured party will eventually grow tired of waiting and settle for a lesser amount than they may be awarded in court. Insurance companies are for-profit corporations with bottom-lines, and they usually conduct themselves in that manner.

       

      If you have been in an accident and feel you are getting short-changed by the responsible parties’ insurance, contact a qualified personal injury attorney today. Here at CCR we are able to answer your insurance related questions, and offer free consultations.

    • How can I pay my accident bills until my lawsuit is resolved?

      This complex issue involves details specific to your own health and auto insurance policies. For example, a majority of automobile insurance policies provide Personal Injury Protection (PIP) for medical payment “MedPay” benefits. Most people have this coverage and seek benefit of payments from their own automobile insurance policy to pay healthcare providers in an amount up to $5,000 (the actual amount of coverage may vary). MedPay commonly covers medical expenses for the insured, their passengers, other drivers on the policy, and members of the insured’s household. What many people do not realize is that MedPay insurance coverage provides payments to its own insured(s) even if the other driver is at fault.

      Other sources of insurance payments might be available to pay for the medical bills as they accrue to include: Private Health Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and supplemental health insurance policies. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers have adopted billing practices making it much harder for accident victims to get their bills paid as they accrue and avoid collection. The results of these practices leave accident victims uncertain they will obtain the benefit of health insurance payments. This takes further discussion to illustrate.

      In the past, injured victims could easily submit health insurance claims on his or her health insurance policy as they accrued. Indeed, the medical care provider would do this automatically. This is no longer true as many Arkansas healthcare providers choose to forego submitting accident related insurance claims to known health insurance providers (including Medicare and Medicaid) until they can determine whether they may recover more money from the insurer of the liable third-party who caused the collision. Since this may take up to a year or so to figure out, many innocent accident victims find that even though they have private health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, the medical bills are not getting paid and in fact turn are often turned over for collection. Yes, even though an accident victim may have health insurance coverage, the health care provider may not seek payment and instead turn over the accident victim to bill collectors. This is because the healthcare provider(s) never turned in the claim for payment from your health insurance at all. Healthcare providers have negotiated contractual obligations to accept lower payments for service charges paid by private health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. Therefore, if the healthcare provider quickly submits billing to a private health insurer, Medicare, or Medicaid (which exist solely to provide benefits for their insured after all), then the healthcare provider may lose the chance to get paid more from the insurer of the liable third party. Additionally, in most instances, the right to leverage and seek payment directly from the innocent accident victim grants stronger rights than if the private health insurer, Medicare, or Medicaid sought reimbursement from the liable third party’s insurance company. This leaves many accident victims in the middle and adds to the anxiety and stress caused by the collision because many find that, in addition to being forced out of work and needing to seek medical treatment, the harm is compounded by harassing collection notices, letters, or phone calls and devalued credit scores.

      If you have specific questions about your medical bills getting paid give us a call and we can assess your specific situation.

    • How do I know if the insurance company is being fair with me?

      You probably have no way of knowing unless you have prior experience as an insurance adjuster or attorney. Every insurance company hires and pays the salaries of scores of investigators. Those investigators have responsibilities to report to the insurance company first; they answer to the people who pay them first. This may affect your claim in that insurance investigators, also called “adjusters” are trained to gather information in ways allowing them to discount and devalue claims by looking for anything that might prop up an argument challenging fault or proof of damages. Generally, these investigators are very busy and have many claims to handle. It is only natural for them to pay attention to well-documented claims compiled and presented by attorneys who know what they must consider when deciding whether and how much to pay for a particular claim. Your life-altering accident is only “a claim” to the insurance company; one of tens or hundreds of such “claims.” You lost a loved one or the use of your body and the insurance company has a computer and file folders keeping track of your injuries and damages, and they only pay for what gets included in those files. The insurance company has teams of investigators and attorneys to document their file, shouldn’t you? Shouldn’t you have someone who knows how to make sure your life and your claim are being given a fair shot?

      To know if you are being made a reasonable offer, it is best to get a second opinion from someone with extensive experience in representing injured people whether the injuries came from: automobile collisions, truck accidents, airplane crashes, or boating incidents. We have an extensive understanding of tactics used by large insurance companies from working for them and against them. When turning our focus and experience to help those wronged by insurance companies, we developed significant experience representing injured accident victims. We don’t take every case, but for clients we choose to represent, we put our experience to work to ensure our clients obtain the level of compensation they are owed and for which they deserve.

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